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Da Vinci's Ghost: Genius, Obsession, And How Leonardo Created The World In His Own Image (2012)

by Toby Lester(Favorite Author)

3.6 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1439189234 (ISBN13: 9781439189238)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Free Press

review 1: Lester seeks to connect, as firmly as possible, Da Vinci to Vitruvius (1st century B.C. architect and author of De Architectura) and his ideas on proportion. The enduring idea is that man can be used as a blueprint toward understanding the nature of all things through proportions. Not hard to understand in the days when the Sun still went around the Earth.In a turn that would make Malcolm Gladwell proud, Lester traces the evolution of Da Vinci's thoughts and experiences (his exposure to books and a diversity of experts in various fields) rather than the magic of prodigy alone.Da Vinci's genius was in his collection of multi-discipline information on an array of topics without limiting himself to the structures of either the emerging academic elite or the artisan/craftsma... moren class. If Da Vinci had be high born, he wouldn't have had access to less respected schools of knowledge which would turn out to be particularly important. Just as Ahmet Ertegun was able to access black music a couple decades prior to it being socially acceptable, Da Vinci was able to synthesize the knowledge of the artisan class(architecture, stone masonry, metal working, painting, etc) before the academic class would stoop to it. He won at the economy of knowledge, and he wrapped that in natural talent and a work ethic fueled by curiosity.In this age of ease of information it's an interesting exercise to imagine the lengths one would have to go to in acquiring the knowledge contained in a rare ancient volume. In the 15th century you'd get a process like > teach yourself Latin (cause you only know Italian), travel to a monastery several days away on the rumor that they have the volume you are looking for, befriend the monk acting as librarian and convince him to allow you the hours or days needed to absorb the knowledge/take note/copy passages from the text if you find it. These days, I shop online and the book is on my doorstep in three business days, to be deposited on the book shelf and possibly forgotten. Antiquity's method required a massive commitment, but also seemed to result in a greater peripheral benefit in experience; travel, social connection, intellectual collection, and the acquisition of all the subsidiary skills needed. >>>more on the connections between Taccola, Toscanelli, Brunelleschi, and Da Vinci as touched on in The Day The Universe Changed, and Brunelleschi's Dome.
review 2: This book was full of wonder and the imagination of Da Vinci. I have watched the TV show, while it is fiction and very sexual in areas, it sparked an interest in his life and work. The man was amazing in how his thoughts led to actual design. It is if he saw it in his mind complete and then proceeded to make it. His painting, sculpture, weapons showed such a range of thoughts that is seemed that his brain should just explode.Florence produced soo many wonderful artists that I wonder if it was nature or nurtue that allowed Da Vinci, Michaelangelo and the others to be so creative. less

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